Jerry Reed Hubbard was the second child born to Robert Spencer
Hubbard and Cynthia Hubbard, two Atlanta cotton mill workers who barely
earned enough money to keep the family together. Jerry's birth on March 20,
1937 strained an already troubled marriage, and four months later the couple
separated. For the next seven years Jerry and his sister were shuttled
between Georgia orphanages and foster homes. They finally returned home
in 1944 when their mother married Hubert Howard, another mill worker.

Music provided a welcome diversion for the family. "When I was a kid of six or
seven, I used to get up on the stove woodpile for a stage and I'd put on the
wildest show," Reed told Bob Anderson in a 1979 'Pickin' interview. "I'd sit
beside the radio and listen to the Grand Ole Opry and play rhythm on a
hairbrush.

Encouraged by her son's continuing passion for music, Cynthia Howard saved
seven dollars to buy a secondhand guitar from a neighbor. Using a nickel as a
flat pick, she taught the nine-year-old his first chords. "She taught me C and
G, a clawhammer G, and I proceeded to drive her crazy," he told Anderson.
"I'd sit on the trunk in the kitchen - I'd get up there 'cause I wanted to be on
stage, you know. I always wanted to be an entertainer. And I don't have any
other memories of ever wanting to be anything else."

From the start he was determined to play music his own way. "I took one or
two lessons," he told a reporter in 1969, "but the guy tried to make me throw
my thumbpick away, so I quit that." One of his earliest influences was
western Kentucky singer-songwriter Merle Travis, whose fluid fingerstyle
guitar inspired a generation of musicians. "There was a song called 'I Am A
Pilgrim'," he told Anderson. "I thought when I heard it, 'Boy, there it is! That
man is walking with the big dog. He knows where the bodies are buried and I
want some of that.'"

By the time he entered Atlanta's O'Keefe High School, Reed was already
writing and singing novelty songs. He also dabbled in acting, taking roles in
school plays throughout his freshman and sophomore years. After
completing his second year, Reed left school to work in an Atlanta cotton mill.
He spent his free time honing his performing skills in local honky tonks. His
early style was closely patterned after his principal musical heroes: Hank
Williams and Tommy Collins. He also developed skills as an entertainer, often
stopping a show with his imitations of popular country artists.

In 1954 an Atlanta policeman, LeRoy Sumner, introduced the youth to Bill
Lowery, who helmed a popular live country music show Saturday mornings
over WGST radio. In a 1989 interview with Jim Ohlschmidt, Lowery vividly
remembered Reed auditioning for him with a self-penned novelty called Aunt
Meg's Wooden Leg.

Recognizing Hubbard's talent, Lowery - already an established music
publisher encouraged him to write more songs and offered to guide his
career. He brokered the youth's first road experience: a thirty-day tour
opening for Ernest Tubb and the Texas Troubadors. For Reed, any lingering
thoughts of possibly completing high school quickly dissipated. "School was
never the same after that," Reed later said. "I knew what I was gonna spend
my life doin'. Nothin' else made any sense. Nothin' else made any
difference." Reed joined Lowery at WGST, working part-time as a disc jockey.
At night he performed with a band Lowery managed, Kenny Lee and the
Western Playboys. "Pete Drake was on steel and I played guitar," he recalled.
"That's how I broke in, playin' dance gigs, clubs, skull orchards."

On November 16, 1954, Reed performed at a gala country show in Atlanta
honoring Faron Young, who had just been discharged from the army. Capitol
records' country music chief Ken Nelson was there to celebrate the occasion,
and Lowery encouraged him to consider signing the young singer. Nelson was
initially reluctant, feeling that Reed was too young to be recording. But
Lowery's persistence eventually paid off with a three-year contract. "Ken told
me, 'Jerry, you're probably too young, but we'll record you anyway,'" Reed
recalled. Reed's first Capitol session was held in Nashville's Castle Studios on
October 17, 1955, and Nelson recruited his front-line Nashville musicians to
back him. (Exactly who he used is difficult to guess. Personnel data for
Capitol's Nashville sessions are lost, making precise identification difficult.)
Reed's initial recordings reveal a sunny, energetic honky-tonker with a
Dickensian approach - 'Little' Jimmy, that is. "If The Good Lord's Willing And
The Creeks Don't Rise" expands Hank Williams's broadcast sign-off tag into
acheerful song along the same lines as "Hey, Good Lookin'". Coupled with
another exuberant tune, "Here I Am", it became Reed's first single. The
record sold fairly well around Atlanta, but failed to dent the national charts.
"Just A Romeo", which recalls Carl Smith's style, was held back as a B-side
for Reed's fourth single. "I'm Tired Of Playing Cupid" remained on the shelf.
Still needing a strong follow-up single, Nelson arranged a second session in
January 1956. Nashville television personality and songwriter Joe Allison
supplied I'm A Lover, Not A fighter, another peppy song reminiscent of Little'
Jimmy Dickens. Reed brought in three originals. Nelson may have rejected
"How Can I Go On This Way", feeling it was too similar to Marty Robbins' "At
The End Of A Long, Lonely Day". "Mister Whiz" faintly resembled Ferlin
Husky's "I Feel Better All Over." "Honey Chile" has touches of Phil Harris,
another hero of Reed's; Nelson coupled it with Allison's song, but this second
single also met little success. Inspired by the exciting new sounds emerging
from Memphis, Reed quickly refitted himself into a rocker. Returning for a split
session in March with Ferlin Husky (as Simon Crum), Reed recorded "When I
Found You", which could have passed for an early Johnny Burnette Trio track.
"I've Had Enough" reflects a debt to Carl Perkins. The former became Reed's
third single; the latter surfaced two decades later on a French rock 'n' roll
anthology. Reed's fourth session in June 1956 marked a return to straight
country. Among the standout tracks was the brooding honky-tonker "This
Great Big Empty Room" and the Hank Williams-influenced "Too Busy Crying
The Blues". At the close of the session, Nelson asked Reed to pen a
commercial song for an upcoming Gene Vincent session. Four days later he
watched Vincent record his song "Crazy Legs", which Capitol released as
Vincent's eighth single later in the year. Another country session followed in
October, but Reed's interests were veering more toward rock 'n' roll. He
began playing lead guitar in Ric Cartey's band, the Jiv-A-Tones. In late
november 1956 he played on a four-song Cartey session for Bill Lowery's
Stars label. Three songs were Reed originals that sounded far more primitive
than anything he recorded for Capitol. The fourth was a ballad co-written by
Cartey and Carol Joiner: "Young Love". RCA Victor picked up the masters, but
Sonny James - one of Ken Nelson's artists, no less - had the hit. Reed worked
sporadically with Cartey through 1957, including handling lead guitar chores
at two of his RCAVictor sessions in Nashville . . .

. . . more information on Jerry's early years can be found in the liner notes of
his "HERE I AM" CD.

Bear Family CD